Improvement in modes of obtaining silk from living spiders and other silk-producers



v golden color and luster, that it could be easily ilNTTan STATES PATENTOrmes.

B. Gr. WILDER AND S. WALES, OF UNITED STATES ARMY, AND WM. N IOHOLS, OFBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN MODES OF OBTAINING SILK FROM LIVING SPIDERS AND OTHERSILK-PRODUCERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 511,958, dated January9, 1866.

To all whom 'it 'muy com-fern:

Be it known that we, Buur G. WILDER and SIGOURNEY WALES, ot the Army ofthe United States, au d WILLIAM NlonoLs, ot' Boston, inthe county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful Inventionhaving reference to Obtaining Silk or a Fibrous Material from Vorms orInsects or other Silk-Producers; and we do hereby declaro the same to befully described in the following` specification and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view, Fig. 2 a sideelevation, Fig. 3 a vertical section, and Fig. 4 a rear View of anapparatus which may be employed in carrying' out our invention.

We would remark, by way of preamble, that one of us-viz., said BURT G.WILDER, (who is an assistant surgeon of the Fifty-fifth Massachusettsregiment, now in the service of the United States Government,) whilestationed on Folly Island, oft the State of South Carolina,in August,A.D., 1863-caught a mediumsized field spider, which was found afterward tobe nearly, if not quite, identical with the lveph'ila. plfzmz'ipes,described and figured by Koch in his Araneides,77 volume 6, of which hesays but a single specimen was brought from Louisiana, and is in thecollection of J. Sturm, of Nrnberg. Observing that the silk extractedfrom this spider had a beautiful drawn from the insect, which at thetime evinced a great degree of quietude under the operation, there wasextracted from him, for the space of one hour and a quarter, at the rateof sir.` feet per minute, a filament or thread of about one hundred andftyyards in length, the Weight of which was found to be one-third of agrain. Subsequently another of usviz.,the aforesaid SIGOURNEY WALns, whowas major of the regiment, discovered great numbers of the particularspider in question on Long Island, adjoining` Folly Island, and easilyprocured therefrom several thousand yards of the silk. The beautifulappearance and strength of the silk obtained from these spiders and thelarge number of them found at the said localities induced us to devisesome practical method of obtaining the silk. The spider appears to beharmless, can be easily handled,

and after having had the silk extracted will recuperate in the course ofsome ten or fifteen days, so as to be capable of being used again forthe purpose.

We have reason to believe that by means of our discovery of thesilk-producing property of this spider, and by our means or Inode ot'obtaining' such silk from it while alive, we have initiated a branch ofindustry the results of which to our country and tothe world may be ofgreat importance.

We believe that our inode of obtaining the silk may also be employed ingetting it from the common silk-worm, rather than by the usual processof reeling it from the cocoons made by such silk-worm, and also that itis equally applicable to many other silk-prodncers.

In carrying out our invention we make use of a rotary wheel or frame, A,mounted on a spindle, B. The perimeter of this frame We provide with aseries of notches, as shown at a, a a, and around such perimeter westretch an elastic band, b, ot' india-rubber. Where the baud extendsacross each notch we provide the frame with a leaf-spring, c, to pressagainst the band. This springand elastic band serve to hold the spiderby the legs, he being arranged with his body horizontal, or nearly so,and with his legs bent down between the spring and the band. Having thusfixed sevkeral spiders, s s s, or other silk-producers on the frame orabout its perimeter, the silk-laments j' f from -them are to be broughttogether and passed through an eye or guide, d, which may be so appliedto a supportingframe, C, as to be capable of being adjusted eithernearer to or` farther from the frame A. From this guide d the silk is tobe led to and around a roller, e, and from thence to a spool, g,arranged on another spindle, h, applied to the rear part of the frame G.An endless belt, v1, not only goes around a pulley, 7c, fixed on thespindle It, but also works around another pulley, Z, fixed on thespindle B, so that when either spindle is set in revolution the otherwill be accordingly rotated.

An endless screw, m, fixed on the spindle h, engages with a worm gear,a, from whose shaft o there projects an arm or crank, p. From the saidcrank a rod, q, extends to a slider, r, on

which the spool g rests. The object ofthe said screw m, wormgear u,crank 1J, rod 1, and slider r is to elevate the spool so as to cause itto Wind upon itself the thread in regular helices. i

The spindle B extends through a stationary standard, t, supported by abracket, u, arranged as shown in the drawings. From the upper part ofthe said standard t a series of teeth, u', project radially, they bein gto cooperate with a series ot' levers, o fv, applied to the under sideofthe frame A. A wire, z, having a helical eye at its upper end, extendsfrom each lever, and with respect to one of the spindles, in manner asshown in the drawings, the thread from the spider being led through thesaid eye before bein g carried up to and through the guide d.

While the machine may be in operation and the threads remain whole orunbroken they will maintain the inner arms of the several levers belowthe teeth u', but should a thread from any-one ot' the spiders becomebroken, the arm of the lever upheld by such thread will drop and throwits other arm up between the teeth, and so as to cause a stoppage ofrotation of the frame or wheel A. Thus the machine will be stopped inits action whenevera breakage of a thread may take place or the threadmay cease to ow from any one of the spiders. The long legs and largebody of the peculiar spider in question render these insects very easyto be handled and managed. They do not evince a disposition to bite aperson or one another. Until our observation ot' this spider and itshabits, it appears to have been but little known or understood.

Heretofore attempts have been'made to obtain silk from spiders by takingit from their little cocoons or egg-bags, but this silk could only becarded after havin g been cleaned; but all such attempts, so far as weare aware, have been failures in a practical point ot' view, both onaccount of the nature of the silk and the difficulty of procuring andkeeping the spiders, the common housespider being that used.

They are so furious that they will destroy one another when kepttogether in large numbers. This is not the case, however, with thefieldspider of the kind found ou the sea islands ot' South Carolina, thesilk from which is superior to that obtained from the silk-worm. We drawand reel the silk directly from the spider, and generally at the rate atwhich the spider usually drops from an object to the ground. The silk isdry, free from all gum or impurity, and at once iit to be made intothread. A strand from the insect is about one four-thousandth of an inchin diameter, and -will bear a weight ot' about tty grains beforebreaking. Four or five of such strands come from one of the spiders atonce.

We would remark that we have conteniplated the drawing of the silk fromthe spider or spiders and twisting each strand before the severalstrands are twisted together into one thread. In accomplishing this theinsects may he held stationary, and a spring apparatus maybe used whichwilll not only draw the silk from one or more ot' them and twist it atthe same time, but twist several of the strands into one; or, instead ofthe spiders being station ary, they may be applied onseparate wheels,each to revolve, or they may be applied to a series of such wheels, andthey may revolve not only on their own axes but around a common axis.

What wc claim as our invention isl. The drawing and reeling or windingthe silk directly from insects, spiders, silk-worms, or othersilk-producers, as set forth.

2. The drawing, reeling, and spinning or twisting together directly fromthe bodies ot insects, spiders7 silk-worms, or other silk-producers twoor more strands or threads, as set forth.

BURT G. WILDER. SIGOURNEY WALES. WM. NICHOLS. Witnesses:

Guo. W. CLARK, J. M. CLARK.

